| Kostenki (English) Костёнки (Russian) |
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| - Inhabited locality - | |
Location of Voronezh Oblast in Russia |
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Location of Kostenki in Voronezh Oblast
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| Coordinates: | |
| Administrative status | |
| Country | Russia |
| Federal subject | Voronezh Oblast |
| Statistics | |
| Time zone | MSD (UTC+04:00)[1] |
| Postal code(s) | 3940xx |
Kostenki is a village located on western middle bank of Don River in Voronezh Oblast, Russia. It is known for high concentration of cultural remains of modern humans from beginning of Upper Paleolithic era.
A layer of Campanian volcanic ash from about 40,000 years ago has been found above some of the finds, showing that "unknown humans" inhabited the site before this.[2][3]--> The Earliest directly dated human remains from this site are dated to 32,600 ± 1,100 14C years and consist of tibia and fibula with traits classifying the bones to European early modern humans.[4]
In 2009, DNA was extracted from the remains of a male hunter-gatherer who lived 30,000 years BP and died aged 20-25. His maternal lineage was found to be U2. He was buried in an oval pit in a crouched position and covered with red ochre.[5]
According to John F. Hoffecker (BBC Science in Action, 12 Jan. 2007), sewing needles were found just above the ash layer.
The eruption of Campi Flegrei volcano occurred about 39.28 ± 0.11 ka. Explosion of 500 km3 ignimbrite was largest in last 200,000 years of European history [6] The ornaments perforated by hand operated rotary drill, found at Kostenki 17 Layer II, predate the volcanic eruption and suggest that the population was "technologically ready" for incoming volcanic winter. In period around 40-24,000 in Europe was formed latitudinal clinal pattern of modern/Neanderthal traits. Kostenki sites are located at "modern" eastward end. The assemlage below volcanic CI tephra layer is associated to nontransitional local Strelec culture and analogous to Upper Paleolithic cultures from central and western Europe where Sheletian culture is most similar. The initial culture development and may be attributed to local Neanderthals[2].
The word "kostenki" mean "small bones" in Ukrainian.